Transfer of slabs and strips of raw animal fat material in meat processing plants and the like



*June 15, 1954 H. TRANSFER OF SLABS FAT MATERIAL Filed oct. :so 195o INMEAT PROCESSING PLANTS. AND THE LIKE H. NOBLE AND STRIPS OF' RAW ANIMAL2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTO R Y June 15, 1954 H. H. NOBLE 2,681,270

TRANSFER 0E 'sLABs AND STRIPS oF RAw ANIMAL FAT MATERIAL IN MEATPROCESSING PLANTS AND THE LIRE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 30, 1950 JMWMaremma/@Vaag ATTO NEY `maintained at about 45 Patented June 15, 1954TRANSFER oF SLAB 1MAL FAT MAT AN ESSING PLANTS S AND STRIPS OF RAW ERIALIN AND THE MEAT PROC- LIKE Herschel H. Noble, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignorto E. Kahns Sons Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a.

corporation of Ohio Application October 30, 1950, Serial No. 192,920

13 Claims.

The invention relates generally to the transfer of fatty portions ofanimal carcasses from one work station to another in a butchering orsimilar plant where such carcasses are processed into food for humanconsumption, and a typical example thereof may be found in the transferof slabs, strips and smaller pieces of hog, beef or mutton fat from thetrimming tables in the cutting room of such a plant to the renderingtanks for conversion into lard, tallow, etc.

In such operations, in order to prevent spoilage of the products, it iscustomary to carry on the trimming in a room in which the temperature isF. On the other hand, the rendering operation calls for much highertemperatures, and thus the cutting and rendering ordinarily areperformed in different rooms, usually located at some distance from oneanother and in some instances even in different buildings. Under theseconditions the usual practice has been for the trimmers to deposit theslabs, strips and smaller pieces of fat, as they are severed from themeaty portions of the carcasses at the trimming tables, into wheeledcarts which, when filled, are manually pushed from the cutting room tothe rendering room and their contents deposited into the renderingtanks.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus for effecting the transfer of materials of the characterindicated from one work station to another located at a distancetherefrom, in a continuous, more expeditious and sanitary manner, withcomplete elimination of the aforementioned push carts and the manuallabor incident to their use.

Extensive experiments conducted with fullscale apparatus havedemonstrated the complete feasibility of mechanically pumping pieces,strips and slabs of hog fat up to at least two feet in length, one footin width and two inches in thickness, through a pipe-line of from six toeight inches in diameter, for distances of several hundred feet. In suchinstallation the pump is of the horizontal cylinder, single-actingreciprocating piston type, with the cylinder having a diametersubstantially the same as that ofthe pipe-line, and the inlet and outletvalves controlling the passages leading to and from 2 the cylinder beingof the positively' actuated oscillating plug type which, when open,provide unobstructed passageways of like diameter. The pump issurmounted by an inverted conical feed hopper, the throat or lower endof which. communicates with the inlet passage of the pump; and thestrips, slabs material are deposited into the open upper end in thecutting room. The pipe-line extends: from the outlet of the pump to therendering room, where it is arranged to discharge into one or morerendering tanks.

Since the fatty material is of such character that it will not freelymove by gravity from the conical hopper through the inlet passage andvalve of the pump, even on the suction stroke ofthe pump piston, meansare provided in the hopper for pressurally advancing the fat into thevalve chamber and pump cylinder when the inlet valve is open.Furthermore, since at the temperature of approximately 45 F. at whichthe fatty material is deposited in the hopper the said material has atendency to stick to the hopper walls, the latter preferably are heatedand/or lubricated by a spray of hot water or steam discharged on theirinner surfaces from an annular spray pipe extending around the upperportion of the hopper. Also, the pipe-line extending from the pump tothe rendering tanks preferably is provided with means, such as a helicalsteam or hot water pipe encircling at least that portion of it lyingwithin the relatively cold cutting room, whereby the pipe walls may beheated somewhat at the beginning of a pumping operation, and at othertimes if necessary or desirable.

For purposes of disclosure the essential tures of an installation suchas that above mentioned are illustrated in the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, in like reference charactersdesignate like throughout the views, and vin which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional-plan view of a typical installationin accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view, partly in sideelevation, of the pump and the feeding mechanism therefor;

3 a horizontal sectional-plan view of said feeding mechanism, onapproximately the plane indicated by the line 3-3 in Fig. 2, lookingdown;

Fig. 4 is a central vertical sectional view of the feed hopper, taken ona plane at right angles to that of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a detail elevational view, partly in section, of a portion ofthe pipe-line.

Referring more particularly to Fig. l., there is diagrammaticallyillustrated ay cutting room il and a rendering room l2, which rooms,although here indicated as adjacent, may be and frequently are locatedat a considerable distance from one another. The cutting room houses aplurality of appropriately disposedV trimming tables i3, on which theoperation of trimming away the fatty portions of the carcasses isperformed; and one or more rendering tanks ill are located in therendering room.

Power driven conveyers l5 are mounted adjacent the trimming tables, uponwhich the severed slabs, strips and smaller pieces of fatty material maybe deposited by the trimmers for transfer to inclined chutes or troughsi6 which are arranged to discharge into the opentopped conical hopper I1which surmounts and communicates with the intake of a pressure pump i8,described in greater detail below. The outlet of said pump communicateswith a pipe-line is made upY of readily-detachable sections, which lineextends from the cutting room Il to and into the rendering room. l2,where it is arranged to discharge into the rendering tanks i4.

The details of the pump i8, its feed hopper il, and associatedmechanismare best shown in Figs. 2, 3 and-e. The pump here shown is a somewhatmodified version of one heretofore developed and widely used for thepumping of plastic concrete mixtures, as disclosed in prior U. S.Patents Nos. 2,017,975 and 2,062,200. The modications in such pumpswherebyto adapt them to the present purpose, reside essentially inelimination of the abnormal circumferential clearances provided betweenthek oscillating valve plugs and their housings for the handling ofconcrete; and adjustment or the valve actuating mechanism so that thevalves will close completely rather than only partially, as is customaryin concrete practice.

Briefly, such pumps comprise a cylinder 2t providing a working chamberin which a singleacting piston 2i is reciprocally mounted, such pistonbeing driven by an electric or other motor 22 through transmissionmechanism. fully disclosed in said prior patents but not here important.The diameter of the Working chamber 29 ranges from six to eight inches,dependent upon the rated capacity of the pump, and at its for,- ward endsaid chamber communicates with a valve housing 2li having an inletpassage 24 controlled by an oscillating plug valve 25,.and an outletpassage 26 controlled by an oscillating plug valve 2l. The pipe-line VI9is connected to said Outletpassage 2t, and the valve plugs fand 2l arepositively moved in each direction by cam-actuated valve rods 28 and 2%respectively, such valve movements of course being in properly timedrelation toeach other and to the reciprocations of the pistonv 2l. lThepassages 24 Yand 26- of the valve housing 23, as well asthose in thevalve plugs 25 and 2, and the pipe-line lll, are all of substantiallyvthe same diameter as the working chamber of the pump, although exceptfrom the standpoint of the working capacity of the system, this featureis not of as much importance in the pumping of the present animal fatmaterial as it is in the handling of concrete, because this fattymaterial is compressible, and does not possess the peculiar stowingproperty of concrete. Y Y

As will be clear from cal hopper of the pump, Vand the discharge port 3Ein its lower end communicates with the inl'etpassage li of the latte Asabove indicated, the slabsy strips and other pieces of fatty materialcan not be satisfactorily fed from the hopper into said Fig. 2, theinverted coniinlet passage 2t by gravity alone, at least not inuuanttiessufficient to enable the pump to operate atmaizimum capacity. This isdue in part to the fact that at the temperature of around 45" F. atwhich the material is supplied to the hopper it is duitesticlry andtends to adhere to the hopper wal s; "and in part to the fact that thereare numerous air-containing spaces between the pieces of material makingup the mass in the hopper, whereby in the absence of some Yn'leans forpreventing it, the suction stroke of the piston El will draw air intothe working chamber 2t in large quantities, if not exclusively.

The nrst of the above mentioned difficulties is overcome in the presentapparatus by the provision of an annular pipe 3l extendingaround theupper interior portion of the hopper Il and provided with downwardlydirected pcrforations 32, througnwhich hot water or steam may be Ysprayed on the inner surfaces of the hopper walls. This not only heatsthe said walls somewhat, but the water or condensed steam serves as alubricant thereon which prevents any substantial adherence of the fattypieces to such surfaces.

The second viated through the provision of mechanical devices in thehopper il which substantially eliminate Vthe air pockets from the fattymass by the time it reaches the inlet passage 2li, and positively forcethe deaerated material through such passage and the inlet valve 25, whenopen, so that the working chamber of the pump is substantiallycompletely filled with such material on each suction stroke of thepiston, whereby the pump may function at maximum efficiency. Thesefeeding and dea-erating devices comprise a screw or helical flight 35carried by a vertical shaft fait disposed axially of the hopper, as willbe clear from Figs. 2 and 3, and journalled in a bearing 31 carriedby abridge member 3S which in turn isV carried by an annular extensionelement 39 surmounting and secured to the hopper. As shown in thesefigures, the feed chutes it may extend through this annulus the hopper;and said extension by transverse beams or upon which is mounted adriving unit di for the screw'i. As here illustrated, this unitcomprises an electric motor l2 coupled to a speed reducing is surmountedvmechanism i3, the output shaft le oi which is 7,5 is disposed agenerally vertical, slightly curved Il surmounts the valve housing 23'difficulty referred to above is ob- 39 to discharge Yinto Y supportingmembers 4i! Fig. 2. There Y blade 4l xedly secured to and extending rad`ally inwardly from said hopper wall throughout substantially the entireheight of the latter.

With the helical flight or screw 35 rotating in a clockwise direction asindicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, it tends to work the slabs, strips andsmaller piece-s of fatty material introduced into the hopper from thechutes I 6, downwardly toward the throat at the bottom of the hopper andinto the inlet passage 24 of the valve housing 23. During the periodswhen the inlet valve 25 is closed, as shown in Fig. 2, the flight 35works or kneads and partially disintegrates the pieces of fat,substantially eliminating all air pockets in the mass and especially thelower portion thereof; and when said inlet valve opens the screw actionpositively forces the material, substantially devoid of air, through thevalve passage and into the chamber 50 of the valve housing 23, fromwhence it is drawn into the working chamber Et of the pump by the thenreceding piston 2l. Upon the working stroke of the piston, when thevalve 25 is again closed and the outlet valve 2l is open, the mass inthe cylinder 23 is forced forwardly to and through said valve 2l, outletpassage 26, and pipe-line I9, to be ultimately discharged into therendering tank I d. With the pump operating at its normal speed of from45 to 50 strokes per minute, the discharge into the tank I4 will be in acompacted substantially continuous although pulsating stream,

The fixed blade 4'I in the hopper prevents the mass of fatty materialrotating therein as a whole, under the turning influence of the helicalnight 35; and said blade also assists in the hashing or partialdisintegrating action of the flight, as well as the forcing or directingof the material into the inlet passage of the pump. The hashing andworking of the fatty material in the hopper by the flight t5 and blade4'I tends to at least partly emulsify the fat and the water or condensedsteam from the pipe 3|; and the disintegration of the material iscarried on by the valves 25 and 21, since each segment of each valvecuts completely through the stream of material passing through suchvalve at each closing thereof. These several actions of the flight 35,blade 41, and pump valves 25 and 2l all contribute some beneficialeffect to the material as regards the rendering operation carried on inthe tanks I4.

The speed of rotation of the helical flight 35 will depend, at least tosome extent, upon the pitch of the helix and its diameter relative tothat of the hopper; however, in the experimental installation mentionedabove good results have been attained when the flight is rotated atabout one revolution or a little more for each working stroke of thepump piston 2I.

At the temperature of about 45 F. commonly prevailing in the cuttingroom II it is desirable or even sometimes necessary, at the start of apumping operation and/or at other times, to heat the pipe-line i9 to asomewhat higher temperature to facilitate the passage of the compressedfatty material through it. For this purpose, at least that portion ofthe line lying within the cutting room is surrounded by a coil 5I ofcopper tubing or the like, through which hot water or steam may bepassed from any suitable source. Of course, the entire line may be soequipped and heated, if necessary.

For the handling of concrete mixtures the working chamber 20 of pumps ofthis type. as well as the chamber 50 and several passages of the valvehousing 23, are customarily provided for the instant purpose such linersmay be formed of stainless steel or the like. For similar reasons theinterior surface of the pipe-line I9 preferably is tinned, galvanized,enameled or otherwise appropriately coated, as indicated at 53 in Fig.5.

What is claimed is:

1. In a meat processing plant having a Work station comprising atrimming table at which fatty portions of the animal carcasses aresevered from other portions thereof, and a .second work station locatedat a substantial distance from said rst station and comprisingreceptacles in which said fatty portions are further processed, thecombination therewith of a pressure pump disposed at said first workstation and having an inlet and an outlet; an open hopper adjacent thepump, having a discharge port communicating with said pump inlet;conveyer means extending between the trimming table and said hopper, fortransferring the severed slabs, strips and smaller fatty portions of thecarcasses from said table to the hopper; feeding means in the hopper forforcing said fatty portions through the hopper discharge port and intothe pump; means for continuously actuating said pump and said feedingmeans; and a pipe-line connected to and extending from the outlet of thepump to the receptacle at said second work station, for conducting thefatty material pressurally moved by the pump to said reoeptacle in acompacted continuous stream.

2. In a meat processing plant having a work station provided withtrimming tables at which fatty portions of the animal carcasses aresevered from other portions thereof, and a second work station locatedat a substantial distance from said first station and comprisingreceptacles in which said fatty portions are further processed, thecombination therewith of a pump disposed at the rst mentioned Workstation and having a working chamber, an inlet passage and an outletpassage each communicating with said chamber, a pressure member operablein the chamber, and means for continuously actuating said pressuremember; an inverted coniform pump; conveyer means extending from thetrimming tables to said the severed slabs, strips and smaller fattyportions of the carcasses from said tables to the hopper; a verticalaxiallydisposed feeding screw mounted in the hopper, for forcing saidfatty portions through the hopper discharge port and pump inlet passageto the working chamber of the pump; means for continuously actuatingsaid feeding screw; and a pipe-line connected to and extending from theoutlet passage of the pump to the receptacles at said second workstation, for conducting the fatty material pressurally moved by the pumpto said receptacles in a compacted continuous stream.

3. In a meat processing plant a work station comprising trimming tablesat which fatty portions of the animal carcasses are severed from otherportions thereof, a second wonk station spaced a substantial Vdistancefrom said first station and comprising receptacles in which said fattyportions are further processed, a pressure pump Ydisposedat the firstmentioned Work station and having an inlet and an outlet; an open hopperadjacent said pump, having a discharge port communicating With said pumpinlet; conveyer means extending between the trimming tables and saidhopper, for transferring the severed slabs, strips and smaller fattyportions of the carcasses from said tables to the hopper; feeding meansin the hopper for forcing said fatty portions through said dischargeport thereof and into the pump; means for Ycontinuously actuating saidpump and said feeding means; means for supplying a heating fluid to theWalls of said hopper, to facilitate the passage of the fatty materialthrough the hopper; and a pipeline connected to and extending from theoutlet of the pump to the receptacles at said second work station, forconducting the fatty material pressurally moved b y the pump to saidreceptacles in a continuous compacted stream.

4. In a meat processing plant a work station comprising trimming tablesat which slabs, strips and smaller portions of fatty material aresevered from other parts of the animal carcasses, a second Work stationspaced a substantial distance from the first mentioned station andcomprising receptacles in which said fatty material is furtherprocessed, a pressure pump disposed at said first worlr station andhaving an inlet and an outlet; an open hopper surmounting the pump andhaving a discharge port communicating with said inlet of the latter;conveyer means extending between said trimming tables and hopper, fortransferringy the severed slabs, strips and smaller fatty portions ofthe carcasses from the tables to the hopper; feeding means in the hopperfor forcing said fatty portions through said discharge port thereof andinto the pump; means Vfor continuously actuating said pump and saidfeeding means; means in the hopper for discharging a lubricating fluidto the inner surfaces of the hopper Walls, to facilitate the passage ofthe fatty material through the hopper; and a pipe-line connected to andextending from the outlet of the pump to the receptacles at said secondwork station, for conducting the fatty material pressurally moved by thepump to said receptacles in a compacted continuous stream.

5. In a meat processing plant having a low temperature Work stationprovided with trimming tables at which fatty portions of the animalcarcasses are severed from other portions thereof, and a second workstation spaced a substantial ,distance from the first mentioned stationand comprising receptacles in which said fatty portions are furtherprocessed at higher tempera- Vtures, the combination therewith of apressure pump disposed at said first Werl; station and 'having an inletand an outlet; an open hopper adjacent the pump, having a discharge portcommunicating with said inlet thereof; conveyer Y means extendingbetween'the trimming tables and said hopper, for transferring thesevered slabs, strips and smaller fatty portions of the carcasses fromYsaid tables to the hopper; feeding means in the hopper for forcing saidfatty portions through the discharge port thereof and into the pump;means for continuously actuating said pump and said feeding means; apipeline connected to and extending from the outlet ofthe pump to thereceptacles at said second Work station, for conducting the fattymaterial pressurally moved by the pump to said receptacles in acompacted continuous stream; and means for supplying heat to the Wallsof at least that portion of the pipe-line which is disposed in the lowtemperature zone of said Work station, Whereby to facilitate passage ofthe pumped material through said line.

6. Apparatus for pressurally transferring slabs, strips and smallerpieces of animal fat material in a continuous confined stream from oneWork station of a meat processing plant to another work stationsubstantially spatially separated from the first mentioned station, saidapparatus comprising a pump disposed at the first mentioned work stationand having a Working chamber, a pressure member operable therein, andinlet and outlet passages communicating with said chamber; an invertedconical hopper surmounting said pump for continuously receiving theslabs, strips and smaller pieces of fatty material, the lower end ofsaid hopper communicating with said inlet passage of the pump; means insaid hopper for Working the mass of fatty pieces therein tosubstantially eliminate air therefrom and forcing the material throughsaid inlet passage to the Working chamber of the pump as a compactedsubstantially deaerated mass, comprising a helical flight ofsubstantially less diameter than the hopper rotatably mounted co-axiallytherein; means for continuously rotating said helical flight in suchdirection as to move the fatty material toward said inlet passage; and aclosed conduit connected to and extending from the outlet passage of thepump to the second work station.

'1. Apparatus for pressurally transferring slabs, strips and smallerpieces of animal fat material in a continuous confined stream from oneWork station of a meat processing plant to another Work stationsubstantially spatially separated from the first mentioned station, saidapparatus comprising a pump disposed at the iirst mentioned work stationand having a Working chamber, a pressure member operable therein, andinlet and outlet passages communicating with said chamber; an invertedconical hopper surmounting said pump for continuously indiscriminatelyreceiving the slabs, strips Vand smaller pieces of fatty material, thelower end of said hopper communicating With said inlet passage of thepump; means in said hopper for working the mass of fatty pieces thereinto substantially eliminate air therefrom and forcing the materialthrough said inlet passage to the working chamber of the pump,comprising a longitudinally tapering helical night of less diameter thanthe hopper rotatably mounted co-axially in the latter, the taper of saidfiightbeing uniform from one end to the other and in the same directionas but' less than that of continuously rotating said helical -night insuch direction as to move the fatty material toward said inlet passage;and a closed conduit connected to and extending from the outlet passageof the pump to the second work station.

8. YApparatus for pressurally transferring slabs, strips and smallerpieces of animal fat material in a continuous confined stream from oneWork station of a `meat processing plant to another work stationsubstantially spatially separated from the first mentioned station, saidapparatus comprising Va pump disposed at the first mentioned workstation and having a Working chamber, a pressure member operabletherein, and inlet and outlet passages communicating With the hopper;means for 9 said chamber; an inverted conical hopper surmounting saidpump for continuously indiscriminately receiving the slabs, strips andsmaller piecesof fatty material, the lower end of said hoppercommunicating with said inlet passage of the pump; means in said hopperfor working the mass of fatty pieces therein to substantially eliminateair therefrom, and forcing the material through said inlet passage tothe working chamber of the pump as a compacted substantially deaeratedmass, comprising a helical flight of substantially less diameter thanthe hopper rotatably co-axiallymounted in the latter; a verticallyextending blade carried by the hopper and extending inwardly from itswall toward said flight, for preventing rotation of the mass of fattymaterial relative to the hopper, and assistin the deaerating and feedingoperations of the flight; means for continuously rotating said helicalflight in such direction as to move the fatty material toward said inletpassage; and a closed conduit connected to and extending from the outletpassage of the pump to the second work station.

9. Apparatus for pressurally transferring slabs, strips and smallerpieces of animal fat material in a continuous confined stream from oneWork station of a meat processing plant to another work stationsubstantially spatially separated from the iii-st mentioned station,said apparatus comprising a pump disposed at the rst mentioned workstation and having a working chamber, a pressure member operabletherein, inlet and outlet passages communicating with said chamber, andpositively actuated valve means controlling said passages; an invertedconical hopper surmcunting said pump for continuously receiving thepieces of fatty material, the lower end of said hopper communicatingwith said inlet passage of the pump; a helical flight of less diameterthan the hopper rotatably mounted in the latter co-axially thereof;means for supplying a lubricating fluid to the inner surfaces of thehopper walls; means for continuously rotating said night in suchdirection as to move the fatty material toward said pump inlet passage,whereby when the valve means controlling such passage is closed theflight will tend to disintegrate, deaerate and emulsify the fattymaterial, and when such valve means is open will force such material ina compacted mass through said passage to the working chamber of thepump; and a closed conduit connected to the outlet passage of the pumpfor conducting the material therefrom to the second mentioned workstation in a continuous confined stream.

10. Apparatus for pressurally transferring slabs, strips and smallerpieces of animal fat material in a continuous confined stream from onework station of a meat processing plant to another work stationsubstantially spatially separated from the first mentioned station, saidapparatus comprising a pump disposed at the first mentioned work stationand having a working chamber, a pressure member operable therein, inletand outlet passages communicating with said chamber, and positivelyactuated completely closing valve means controlling said passages; aninverted conical hopper surmounting said pump for continuously receivingthe pieces of fatty material, the lower end of said hopper communicatingwith said inlet passage of the pump; a helical flight of less diameterthan the hopper rotatably mounted in the latter co-axially thereof meansfor continuously rotating said flight in toward said pump inlet tion ofthe material; a fixed blade disposed in the `hopper intermediate itswall'and said flight, for preventing mass rotation` of the material inthe hopper, and assisting in the disintegration and feeding of thematerial to the pump inlet passage; a closed conduit connected to theoutlet passage of the pump for conducting the material therefrom to thesecond mentioned work station in a continuous confined stream; and aheating coil surrounding said conduit.

1l. Apparatus for pressurally feeding slabs, strips and smaller piecesof animal fat material to the intake of a pressure pump for pipe-linetransfer thereby to a distant point, said apparatus comprising adownwardly convergent hopper for continuously receiving the pieces offatty material, said hopper having an unobstructed discharge port at itslower end for communication with the inlet passage of the pump; meansfor continuously Working the pieces of fatty material in the hopper topartially disintegrate them, deaerate the mass, and pressurally feed itthrough said port, comprising a helical flight mounted in the hopper forrotation about a vertical axis, said flight being of smaller diameterthan the hopper and disposed with its lower end adjacent the port; andcontinuously operating means carried by the hopper and connected to saidhelical flight for rotating the latter in a direction to move thematerial toward and through the port.

12. Apparatus for pressurally feeding slabs, strips and smaller piecesof animal fat material to the intake of a pressure pump for pipe-linetransfer thereby to a distant point, said apparatus comprising aninverted conical hopper for continuously receiving the pieces of rawfatty material, said hopper having an unobstructed discharge port at itslower end adapted to communicate with the inlet passage of the pump;means for continuously pressurally working said pieces of material inthe hopper to partially disintegrate them, deaerate the mass, and forceit through said port, comprising a vertically disposed helical flightrotatably mounted in the hopper, said flight being of smaller diameterthan the hopper and terminating adjacent the port; continuouslyoperating means carried by the hopper and connected to said flight forrotating it in a direction to move the material to and through the port;and a substantially vertical blade mounted in the hopper intermediateits wall and said flight, for preventing mass rotation of the materialin the hopper under the action of the flight.

13. Apparatus for pressurally feeding slabs, strips and smaller piecesof raw animal fat material to the intake of a pressure pump for pipelinetransfer thereby apparatus comprising an open-topped downwardlyconvergent hopper for continuously receiving the pieces of fattymaterial, said hopper having a discharge port at its smaller end adaptedto communicate with the inlet passage of the pump; means forcontinuously pressurally working said pieces of material in the hopperto par-A to a distant point, said` tially disintegrate them, deaeratethe mass, and force it through said port, comprising a verticallydisposed helical iight rotatably mounted in the hopper co-axiallythereof and terminating adjacent the port;`continuously operating meanscarried by the hopper and connected to the flight for rotating thelatter in a direction to move the material to and through the port; anda spray pipe disposed in the upper part of the hopper,

for discharging a lubricating fluid on the inner l0 surfaces of thehopper walls.

2 Y Y Y References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS Number Number Name Date Bradley June 21, 1910 Y Ball Nov. 24,1936 Londais July 2, 1940 Wormeck et al Apr. 23, 1946 Nyrop May 1, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS Country DateV Germany June 5, 1934 Holland July 15,19,42

1. IN A MEAT PROCESSING PLANT HAVING A WORK STATION COMPRISING A TRIMMING TABLE AT WHICH FATTY PORTIONS OF THE ANIMAL CARCASSES ARE SEVERED FROM OTHER PORTIONS THEREOF, AND A SECOND WORK STATION LOCATED AT A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE FROM SAID FIRST STATION AND COMPRISING RECEPTACLES IN WHICH SAID FATTY PORTIONS ARE FURTHER PROCESSED, THE COMBINATION THEREWITH OF A PRESSURE PUMP DISPOSED AT SAID FIRST WORK STATION AND HAVING AN INLET AND AN OUTLET; AN OPEN HOPPER ADJACENT THE PUMP, HAVING A DISCHARGE PORT COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PUMP INLET; CONVEYER MEANS EXTENDING BETWEEN THE TRIMMING TABLE AND SAID HOPPER, FOR TRANSFERRING THE SEVERED SLABS, STRIPS AND SMALLER FATTY PORTIONS OF THE CARCASSES FROM SAID TABLE TO THE HOPPER; 